So we know when the appeal will be heard. The only thing left to learn is whether NFL business will be conducted in the meantime.

If the court grants the NFL’s request for a stay, the lockout will be back on. Teams and the journalists covering them will essentially have a month to kill. (Plus the time for the court to make a ruling on the appeal.)

If the court doesn’t grant the stay, we could soon be reporting on the wildest free agent period of all time.

It would not surprise me one bit if we start seeing NFL games being broadcast on Court TV in the very near future. All of this legal wrangling is sucking the life out of the greatest sport ever. A month wasted? Really? Sit down and work it out already.

I don’t know the implications of lifting the lockout (meaning the anti-trust violations no matter what the league does – and you know the players will sue them – so the players want the lockout to be lifted because they can then sue, again, no matter what rules are put in place) but I selfishly want it lifted so I can have my football!

I believe the one judge who voted last time will convince at least 1 of the other 2 that conducting league business in between the appeals trial will not be detrimental to the NFL , but will be seriously bad for the NFl as a whole especially the players and that they will not extend the “Stay”

In my opinion DeMaurice Smith is bent on fighting instead of negotiating. He is being greedy, self-serving, and impractical. Even if he is fundamentally right, his aggressive posturing has created this mess–I am sure his focus and drive are no longer guided by anything more than his lust to win at all cost.

you got that right , the republicans will automatically side with the rich every single time. but i still have my fingers crossed hoping the owners dont get what they want , they will ruin this game. roger goodell will go down in history as the absolutley worse commissioner of any sport. he s__ks

The owners tried getting over on the players and it backfired in there faces because they had to open there books and now players are probably going to get raises instead of covering a debt they should have been asked to split rather then cover the whole amount. Now, we have the lock out and one judge has ruled in the players favor, I see this one doing the same.

The owners are going to get what they deserve but the fans dont deserve any of this.

Both sides are dopes. Even Obama and Boehner could figure this one out without court intervention. US has a 13 trillion dollar deficit. NFL has a 9 billion surplus. both sides need to figure it out and stop acting like morons.

Maybe the NFL and the players can break this streak by making a fair compromise. The owners need to realize that the players need to be taken seriously in order for the NFL to have the best players. The players need to realize that the owners have to succeed for the NFL to last, and that poorer employers don’t mean richer employees.

Appeal courts are more guided in their decision then what ability Judge Nelson had to make her ruling. In order to overturn Nelson’s Decision, the league has to prove its position enough to the 3 for them to overturn judge nelsons ruling, in other words to say the her ruling was flawed or wrong. Nelson’s Ruling was well written and pushed the fact that no harm would come to the league if it opened its doors as they would be conductting regular business and even more since the league has already said that their will be a season. The league wont really be in hardship unless games are missed. On the otherside the players are under hardships immeidately due to the demands of roster spots and the need of offseason workouts and training camps to fufill those demansds.

You could also argue at this point that the players drafted after the league locked the doors and were unable to reach their facilities to recieve their playbooks like the first-rounders are now at a disadvantage. And the League can once again be sued for violating Anti-Trust Laws and collusion

It would not surprise me one bit if we start seeing NFL games being broadcast on Court TV in the very near future. All of this legal wrangling is sucking the life out of the greatest sport ever. A month wasted? Really? Sit down and work it out already.
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The line about games being broadcast on Court TV is the type of comment that makes reading these message boards worthwhile. Good Sh@t!

The rest of you stop lecturing us about politics…plenty of message boards are dedicated to that. This issues is not a typical labor issue…don’t confuse it for one.

It seems highly unlikely they would lift the lockout if they are expediting the hearing. My bet is they leave it in place until after the June 3rd hearing. Football news is going to be pretty sparse for the next month.

Maybe the NFL and the players can break this streak by making a fair compromise. The owners need to realize that the players need to be taken seriously in order for the NFL to have the best players. The players need to realize that the owners have to succeed for the NFL to last, and that poorer employers don’t mean richer employees.
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The jobs that are outsourced are done out of greed for the most part. Why not go to a part of the world where you can exploit some brown people and pay them a little of nothing. As for education being hurt by unions? Do you mean the teachers unions that have the teachers living this lavish lifestyle that most ordinary people can’t fathom……lol!!!! I can point to 1980’s republican policy like reaganomics and GW Bushes no child left behind program that has had way more of an adverse effect on what you speak of than unions!!

footballfan292 says:
May 3, 2011 5:11 PM
Conservatives and Republicans decide court cases based on which side is the richest. So the owners have a guaranteed win here.

Name a major case where conservatives sided with labor. Never!

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Great logic footballfan292. Only problem is you can’t name a major case where liberal democrats sided with big business. So it’s a moot point.

Democrats will side with unions, republicans with businesses. Democrats want to “spread the wealth” and feel they “deserve” a large part of what the business owner has worked so hard to create. Republicans will work their asses off to achieve their goals and create successful businesses only to have democrats and unions widdle them down to nothing after hefty taxes and pensions.

Quote: “If the court grants the NFL’s request for a stay, the lockout will be back on.”

I hate to be the one to break the bad news to my fellow NFL football fans…but outcome of this “hearing” is already known !

First a little background on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals…it is the most right wing/GOP friendly court in the USA with 9 of the 11 justices being appointed by G.W. Bush, Reagan or Daddy Bush.

Some might be under the impression that this case is about American anti-trust laws…it is not.

This case will be decided based on the political majority of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and not based on the rule of law.

I realize many do not want believe that this is how America’s judicial system works…but we all need to face the reality that politics in America is more partisan than at any time in my six decades of life.

Just as “new” Republican Governors in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc have taken advantage of their opportunities to dismantle the unions of teachers, policeman, state patrolman and many other public workers…so to will the NFL owners use this opportunity to inflict as much pain and power over the NFL players in this case.

With the help of the 8th Circuit Court, the owners will lock the players out until they decide it’s time to bargain in good faith and that is not going to happen until the owners feel they have the advantage over the players.

…in other words, the owners have to hurt the players financially, as much as they possibly can, in order to get them to accept an owner friendly contract.

NFL fans need to realize, as long as the owners have RW Courts to back them up, the fans and players are in for a long lockout, possibly carrying into the fall.

All indications are, the owners are prepared to cancel the first two games of the NFL schedule, thinking they can make those games up and still play a 16 game schedule.

I hope I’m wrong…but it looks like NFL fans are about to experience a very ugly period in NFL history.